Lead (Associate Director), Data Quality, Operations & Governance

Lead, Data Quality, Operations & Governance

Astellas is a global life sciences company committed to turning innovative science into value for patients. We provide transformative therapies in disease areas that include oncology, ophthalmology, urology, immunology, and women's health. Through our research and development programs, we are pioneering new healthcare solutions for diseases with high unmet medical need. Learn more at Astellas.com.

We're seeking passionate individuals who thrive in dynamic environments, embrace new ideas, and aren't afraid to take intelligent risks. People who act with unwavering integrity and are deeply committed to making a tangible impact.

The Lead, Data Quality, Operations & Governance is a key people leader within the Data Center of Excellence (COE), responsible for the hands-on execution and continuous improvement of data quality, governance, and operational processes that support commercial data products across core domains such as HCP/HCO, affiliations, territories, alignments, sales performance, engagement, and customer master data. This role ensures that data feeding field reporting, targeting, and analytics is trusted, consistently defined, well documented, and fit for purpose.

Reporting to the Head, Data Strategy, Quality & Governance COE, this role manages a team of three: Partner, Oncology Data Quality, Ops & Governance; Partner, Non-Oncology Data Quality, Ops & Governance; and Partner, Eligibility, Roster & TPA. The Lead provides direction, coaching, and prioritization for this team while partnering closely with Commercial Operations, Field Leadership, Analytics, and Digital/IT to operationalize data standards, controls, and monitoring across the commercial data lifecycle. The Lead, Data Quality, Operations & Governance focuses on both strategic execution and day-to-day operations, translating governance decisions into robust, scalable processes and ensuring their consistent adoption.

Role and Responsibilities

• Lead and develop a high-performing team of three partners, including goal setting, coaching, performance management, and workload prioritization.
• Oversee data acquisition and onboarding activities by identifying, assessing, and validating new or updated internal and external data sources (e.g., syndicated, specialty pharmacy, and customer data), coordinating integration support, and ensuring they meet defined business and quality standards before production use.
• Act as a subject-matter expert on key commercial data assets and vendors, informing and tracking data-related budgets and contracts, and defining and enforcing SLAs related to data quality, timeliness, and completeness for acquired data.
• Lead and represent the Data COE in commercial data governance forums and working groups, bringing operational and quality perspectives to policies, standards, and controls and ensuring outcomes are documented in catalogues and governance artifacts.
• Maintain and evolve commercial data governance artifacts by defining and curating business definitions, metadata, data lineage, and role-based access for key commercial data assets, leveraging enterprise data catalog tools (e.g., Collibra) where appropriate.
• Execute and enhance data quality processes across key commercial domains including HCP/HCO, affiliations, territories, alignments, sales performance, engagement, customer master, and eligibility/roster/TPA to ensure accuracy, completeness, consistency, and timeliness.
• Implement and maintain recurring data quality monitoring, including rule execution, scorecards, and alerts, to proactively detect and remediate data issues impacting field reporting, targeting, and analytics.
• Partner with the MDM function to operationalize survivorship rules, golden record governance, and stewardship workflows, ensuring master data integrity across systems and downstream processes.
• Coordinate issue triage and root-cause analysis across internal teams and vendors, driving structured remediation plans, assigning ownership, and tracking resolution through to closure.
• Oversee Eligibility, Roster, and Third-Party Access (TPA) data operations, including vendor oversight, refresh cadence, controls, exception handling, and downstream availability to field execution platforms.
• Contribute to the commercial data roadmap by providing operational and quality-focused input on new data products, enhancements, and AI-ready data foundations.
• Collaborate with Digital/IT and the Platform COE to shape and test data enablement capabilities such as data pipelines, warehouse/lakehouse models, and MDM configuration to ensure they are reliable, scalable, and aligned to data quality requirements.
• Drive process optimization and automation initiatives that simplify data management workflows, reduce manual effort, and improve cycle times and reliability for the team and key stakeholders.
• Provide transparent reporting on data quality health through dashboards, metrics, and regular updates to stakeholders in Commercial Operations, Field Leadership, Analytics, and Digital/IT; summarize implications and recommended actions.
• Serve as a subject-matter and consultative partner to Field Ops leads, helping them understand data quality constraints and opportunities and improving speed to insight through better data foundations.
• Design and implement automated data quality validation processes to detect data issues and trigger timely alerts for remediation.

Required Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree
• 7–10+ years of experience in commercial data quality, data operations, data governance, or related analytics/data management roles, ideally within pharmaceutical or biotech environments.
• Prior experience leading or managing a small team, including setting priorities and developing talent.
• Strong knowledge of commercial data domains, including HCP/HCO, affiliations, sales performance, claims, and field execution or engagement data.
• Demonstrated experience executing or supporting data governance, data quality, or stewardship capabilities in a regulated setting.
• Hands-on experience with modern data platforms such as Snowflake or Databricks, data quality tools, and/or MDM solutions, including configuration and monitoring.
• Familiarity with commercial data vendors and sources such as IQVIA, Symphony, and Veeva and their typical structures, refresh patterns, and usage in field operations and analytics.
• Exposure to automation and AI/ML approaches for enhancing data quality monitoring, anomaly detection, or workflow efficiency, with an understanding of AI-ready data requirements.
• Strong analytical, problem-solving, and root-cause analysis skills, with the ability to translate complex data issues into clear, actionable remediation steps.
• Effective communication and stakeholder influence skills within matrixed organizations, with a track record of partnering across Commercial Operations, IT, and Analytics.

Preferred Qualifications

• Advanced degree in a relevant field such as Information Management, Data Science, Business, or a related discipline preferred.

Location and Working Environment

This position is based in Northbrook, Illinois. Remote work from anywhere in the US is available.

At Astellas we recognize the importance of work/life balance, and we are proud to offer a hybrid working solution allowing time to connect with colleagues at the office with the flexibility to also work from home. We believe this will optimize the most productive work environment for all employees to succeed and deliver. Hybrid work from certain locations may be permitted in accordance with Astellas' Responsible Flexibility Guidelines.

What awaits you at Astellas?

• Global collaboration: Become part of a connected global business of like-minded life science leaders, all dedicated to improving patients' lives worldwide. Real-world patient impact: Contribute to transformative therapies that reach patients around the world, knowing your work makes a difference every day.
• Relentless Innovation: Join a company at the forefront of scientific breakthroughs, where you'll have the opportunity to shape the future of healthcare.
• A Culture of Growth: Chart your own course within a supportive environment that values your contributions, champions your development, and empowers you to pursue your passions.

Our Organizational Values and Behaviors

Values: Innovation, Integrity and Impact sit at the heart of what we do.

Behaviors: We come together as 'One Astellas', working with courage and a sense of urgency. We are outcome focused and consistently take accountability for our personal contribution.

Salary Range

$144,060 – 205,800 (Final compensation will be determined based on a variety of factors, including but not limited to skills, experience and organizational equity considerations)

Benefits:

• Medical, Dental and Vision Insurance
• Generous Paid Time Off options, including Vacation and Sick time, plus national holidays including year-end shut down
• 401(k) match and annual company contribution
• Company paid life insurance
• Annual Corporate Bonus and Quarterly Sales Incentive for eligible positions
• Long Term Incentive Plan for eligible positions
• Company fleet vehicle for eligible positions